She is uncertain. They are leaving the country together for the first time and he has never been off of the small island where he grew up. Their flight is very early and they have had to be at the airport since 4:00am. That meant getting up shortly after 3. His head flopped backwards and he fell asleep almost immediately. Rosa has closed her eyes but the arm rest of the next seat is digging into her back and the uncertainty of how he will deal with all of the difficulties of living in Vietnam for a year is weighing on her. She is wondering for the 37th time whether this is a good idea. She isn’t sure how he will deal with not having hot water, or intermittent electricity, or the smells, or the crush of humanity in the city streets. He is a good man but this is something completely new.

My wife and I were at recently at the airport very early in the morning and I saw this young couple sleeping over on the next bench. I got out my camera because their posture told a very interesting story about their lives and about air travel. I wasn’t, however, completely sure that that everyone would catch on that this was taken in an airport so I grabbed my wife’s suitcase, extended the handle and used it to help complete the story. It also provides a nice frame for the girl’s face and provides some depth and visual interest to the foreground.

-Russell Berg